An insect-inspired flapping wing micro air vehicle with double wing clap-fling effects and capability of sustained hovering

Quoc-Viet Nguyen; Woei Leong Chan; Marco Debiasi

doi:10.1117/12.2085714

26 March 2015 An insect-inspired flapping wing micro air vehicle with double wing clap-fling effects and capability of sustained hovering

Quoc-Viet Nguyen, Woei Leong Chan, Marco Debiasi

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9429, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2015; 94290U (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2085714
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We present our recent flying insect-inspired Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicle (FW-MAV) capable of hovering flight which we have recently achieved. The FW-MAV has wing span of 22 cm (wing tip-to-wing tip), weighs about 16.6 grams with onboard integration of radio control system including a radio receiver, an electronic speed control (ESC) for brushless motor, three servos for attitude flight controls of roll, pitch, and yaw, and a single cell lithium-polymer (LiPo) battery (3.7 V). The proposed gear box enables the FW-MAV to use one DC brushless motor to synchronously drive four wings and take advantage of the double clap-and-fling effects during one flapping cycle. Moreover, passive wing rotation is utilized to simplify the design, in addition to passive stabilizing surfaces for flight stability. Powered by a single cell LiPo battery (3.7 V), the FW-MAV flaps at 13.7 Hz and produces an average vertical force or thrust of about 28 grams, which is sufficient for take-off and hovering flight. Finally, free flight tests in terms of vertical take-off, hovering, and manual attitude control flight have been conducted to verify the performance of the FW-MAV.

Citation Download Citation

Quoc-Viet Nguyen, Woei Leong Chan, and Marco Debiasi "An insect-inspired flapping wing micro air vehicle with double wing clap-fling effects and capability of sustained hovering", Proc. SPIE 9429, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2015, 94290U (26 March 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2085714

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